"Terrorists at the Gates"? Irregular Migrants and Discourses of Danger

Journal title MONDI MIGRANTI
Author/s Nadya Bernadette Jaworsky
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2015/1
Language English Pages 31 P. 239-269 File size 184 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2015-001012
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Exclusionary, evasive and xenophobic immigration policies echo a common public discourse about the 'dark side' of migration - its association with danger and terror. Portraying irregular migrants as potential terrorists creates a powerful narrative that taps into a polity’s primordial fears and fosters social, political, and cultural exclusion of foreign-born Others - leading to an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among immigrant communities. This study aims at understanding these ‘discourses of danger’ and the ways in which irregular migrants respond. First, we look at how the association of migration and ‘terror’ is articulated - what genres are used, by whom and for what purposes. We then explore how irregular migrants and their advocacy groups cope with the increasingly pervasive portrayal of migrants as dangerous, unwelcome Others. How do they frame and construct claims for social and political acceptance? What are the survival strategies in response to the growing incidence of physical and symbolic violence against immigrants? Through a qualitative analysis, we elaborate patterns that ‘connect the dots’ - between migration and terror, state and society, and inclusion and exclusion within the nation state.

Keywords: Migration and terror, state and society, inclusion and exclusion; dark side' of migration.

  1. Adler R. (2006). 'But they claimed to be police, not la migra!' The interaction of residence status, class, and ethnicity in a (Post-Patriot Act) New Jersey neighborhood. American Behavioral Scientist , 50, 1: 48-69.
  2. Ainslie R. (2009). Regression in the construction of the immigrant other. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 14, 1: 49-57; DOI: 10.1057/pcs.2008.51
  3. Alexander J.C. (2010). The performance of politcs. Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  4. Alexander J.C. and P. Smith (1993). The discourse of American civil society: A new proposal for cultural studies. Theory and Society, 22, 2: 151-207.
  5. Alexander J.C. (2003). The meanings of social life. New York: Oxford University Press.
  6. Alexander J.C. and Smith P. (2003). The Strong Program in Cultural Sociology: Elements of a Structural Hermeneutics. In: Alexander J.C. cit: 11-26.
  7. Brettell C. (2006). Wrestling with 9/11: Immigrant perceptions and perceptions of immigrants. Migration Letters, 3, 2: 107-124.
  8. Brotherton D.C. and Kretsedemas P., eds. (2008). Keeping out the other: A critical introduction to immigration enforcement today. New York: Columbia University Press.
  9. Buchanan P.J. (2006). State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. New York, Usa: Thomas Dunne Books.
  10. Calavita K. (2005). Immigrants at the Margins: Law, Race, and Exclusion in Southern Europe. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.
  11. Caminero-Santangelo M. (2009). Responding to the human costs of U.S. immigration policy: No more deaths and the New Sanctuary Movement. Latino Studies, 7: 112-122.
  12. Chavez L.R. (2001). Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation. Berkeley, University of California Press.
  13. Chavez L.R. (2008). The Latino threat: Constructing immigrants, citizens and the nation. Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press.
  14. Collins D.R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. New Brunswick, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  15. Cornelius W. (2005). Controlling 'Unwanted Immigration': Lessons from the United States, 1993-2004. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31, 4: 775-794; DOI: 10.1080/13691830500110017
  16. Coutin S. (2000). Legalizing moves: Salvadorean immigrants' struggle for U.S. Residency. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
  17. Coutin S.B. (1993). The culture of protest: Religious activism and the Sanctuary Movement. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press.
  18. Coutin S.B. (1998). From refugees to immigrants: The legalization strategies of Salvadoran immigrants and activists. International Migration Review, 32, 4: 901-925.
  19. De Genova N. (2007). Working the Boundaries. Race, space and 'illegality' in Mexican Chicago. Durham: Duke University Pressance. De Genova N.P. (2002). Migrant illegality and deportability in everyday life. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31, 1: 419-447.
  20. Donohue L.K. (2008). The cost of counterterrorism: Power, politics, and liberty. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  21. Ewing K.P. (2008). Being and belonging: Muslims in the United States since 9/11. New York: Russell Sage.
  22. Gomberg-Muñoz R. (2010). Willing to work: Agency and vulnerability in an undocumented immigrant network. American Anthropologist, 112, 2: 295-307; DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01227.x
  23. Hayworth J.D. and Eule J. (2006). Whatever it takes: illegal immigration, border security, and the war on terror. Washington, DC and Lanham, MD, Regnery Publishers: Distributed to the trade by National Book Network.
  24. Heyman J.M. (2007). Grounding Immigrant Rights Movements in the Everyday Experience of Migration. International Migration, 45, 3: 197-202.
  25. Hitlan R.T., Carrillo K. et al. (2007). Attitudes toward immigrant groups and the September 11 terrorist attacks. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 13, 2: 135-152.
  26. Hondagneu-Sotelo P. (2007). Religion And social justice for immigrants. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  27. Hondagneu-Sotelo P. (2008). God's Heart Has No Borders: How Religious Activists are Working for Immigrant Rights. Oakland: University of California Press. Immigration Policy Center (2010). Trac Fact Sheet. http://www. immigration policy. org/sites/default/files/docs/TRAC_Fact_Sheet_020410_0.pdf.
  28. Inda J.X. (2006). Targeting Immigrants: Government, Technology, and Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
  29. Jaworsky B.N., Curran S.R. et al. (2010). Cityscapes of fear and refuge: Organizational perspectives on human security and religion in a 'Nation of Immigrants'. In: Wellman J. K.Jr. and Lombardi C., eds. cit.
  30. Kosic A. and Triandafyllidou A. (2004). Albanian and Polish migration to Italy: The micro-processes of policy, implementation and immigrant survival strategies. International Migration Review, 38, 4: 1413-1446.
  31. Landolt P. (2001). Salvadoran economic transnationalism: embedded strategies for household maintenance, immigrant incorporation, and entrepreneurial expansion. Global Networks, 1, 3: 217-242.
  32. Levitt P. (2007). God Needs No Passport: How Immigrants are Changing the American Religious Landscape. New York: The New Press.
  33. Martin S. and Martin P. (2003-2004). International Migration and Terrorism: Prevention, Prosecution and Protection. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 18, 329-344.
  34. Massey D. and Sanchez R.M. (2007). Latino and American Identities as Perceived by Immigrants. Qualitative Sociology, 30, 1: 81-107.
  35. Massey D.S. (2004). Beyond smoke and mirrors: Paradoxes of U.S. immigration policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Meeteren M.v., Engbersen G. and San M. v. (2009). Striving for a better position: Aspirations and the role of cultural, economic, and social capital for irregular migrants in Belgium. International Migration Review, 43, 4: 881-907.
  36. Menjívar C. (2006). Liminal legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants' lives in the United States. American Journal of Sociology, 111, 4: 999-1037.
  37. Milkman R. (2007). Critical mass: Latino labor and politics in California. Nacla Report on the Americas May/June: 30-42.
  38. Morales D.I. (2009). In democracy's shadow: Fences, raids, and the production of migrant illegality. Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, 5, 1: 23-87.
  39. Mythen G. and Walklate S. (2006). Communicating the terrorist risk: Harnessing a culture of fear? Crime Media Culture, 2, 2: 123-142.
  40. Mythen G., Walklate S. and Khan F. (2009). 'I'm a Muslim, but I'm not a Terrorist': Victimization, Risky Identities and the Performance of Safety. British Journal of Criminology, 49, 6: 736-754; DOI: 10.1093/bjc/azp032
  41. Núñez G.G. and Heyman J.M. (2007). Entrapment processes and immigrant communities in a time of heightened border vigilance. Human Organization 66, 4: 354-365.
  42. Padilla Y., Shapiro E. et al. (2008). Our nation’s immigrants in peril: An urgent call to social workers. Social Work, 53, 1: 5-8.
  43. Passel J.S. and Cohn D.V. (2009). A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States Washington, DC, Pew Hispanic Center.
  44. Pick T.M., Speckhard A. and Jacuch B., eds. (2010). Home-grown terrorism: Understanding and addressing the root causes of radicalisation among groups with an immigrant heritage in Europe. Volume 60 Nato Science for Peace and Security Series - E: Human and Societal Dynamics. Amsterdam: Ios Press.
  45. Romero V.C. (2003). Decoupling terrorist from immigrant: An enhanced role for the federal courts post 9/11. Journal of Gender, Race and Justice, 7, 1: 201-212.
  46. Rumbaut R.G., Gonzales R.G. et al. (2006). Debunking the Myth of Immigrant Criminality: Imprisonment Among First- and Second-Generation Young Men Migration Information Source; http://www.migrationinformation.org/usfocus/display.cfm?ID=403.
  47. Saux M.S. (2007). Immigration and terrorism: A constructed connection. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 13, 1: 57-72;
  48. Strauss A. and Corbin J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park: Sage.
  49. Ting J.C. (2006). Immigration and national security. Orbis 50, 1: 41-52; DOI: 10.1016/j.orbis.2005.10.004
  50. Triandafyllidou A. (2008). The governance of international migration in Europe and North America: Looking at the interaction between migration policies and migrants' Strategies. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 6, 3: 281-296.
  51. Wellman J. K.Jr. and Lombardi C., eds (2010). Religion and human security: A global perspective. New York: Oxford University Pre Zhou M. (1997). Growing up American: The challenge confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 1: 63-95.

Nadya Bernadette Jaworsky, "Terrorists at the Gates"? Irregular Migrants and Discourses of Danger in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 1/2015, pp 239-269, DOI: 10.3280/MM2015-001012